Melania Trump’s memoir, Melania, will be released next week, a newsworthy event given her status as both a former and possibly future first lady. That means media outlets will want to cover the book and, if they can, score an interview with the author. CNN, for example, reportedly reached out to Trump’s publisher two months ago to request an interview, and after “several exchanges” about one, it appeared it might actually happen—if the organization was willing to cough up a quarter of a million dollars.
Yes, CNN reports that last week, Trump’s publisher, Skyhorse Publishing, emailed a document marked “Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Agreement.” The agreement, per the outlet, “laid out strict terms for an interview and use of material from the book,” and “On top of that, the agreement stipulated that ‘CNN shall pay a licensing fee of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).’” The document, CNN reports, specified that “the payment would be for an interview with a media company—CNN—as well as for licensing photos and excerpts from the book.”
After a reporter from the media organization asked the company about the highly unusual fee, the publisher claimed it was a mistake. “Neither Melania nor anyone from her team knew anything about the NDA and the document that was sent reflected an internal miscommunication,” Skyhorse’s president and publisher told CNN. “Had CNN signed an NDA, in the normal course of business, we would have approached Melania’s team to discuss [specifics of the interview].”
As CNN notes, it is absolutely not standard practice for a public figure to be paid for an interview—especially one who is the spouse of a political candidate—and newsrooms “tend to have strict guidelines against” doing so. And while Skyhorse has insisted that the former first lady knew nothing of the request, the figure initially demanded just so happens to be in the exact same ballpark as fees she has been paid in the past:
Regarding the $250,000 request made to CNN, journalist Kate Andersen Brower, author of First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies, told the outlet, “It’s totally unprecedented. No former first lady has ever done that.”
Paying for an interview “incentivizes the subject to alter what they’re saying to make it more valuable to the organization, to exaggerate or sensationalize,” Kelly McBride, senior vice president and chair of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at the Poynter Institute, told CNN. “Your goal when you interview people is to bring their perspective in so you can get closer to the truth, and if they have some sort of incentive to distort that you are failing your audience.” She added, “It’s super suspect that a political figure’s spouse would want to be paid for something.”
A spokesperson for Melania Trump declined CNN’s request for comment.